In the latest episode of the Song Exploder podcast, Paramore dives into the making of their song “Liar” and how it changed into one of the band’s most vulnerable endeavors.
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Vocalist Hayley Williams, guitarist Taylor York and drummer Zac Farro were working on Paramore’s post-COVID album, This is Why, when all three agreed that they needed a break from some of the “jumpy” songs they’d been writing. “I just like, really wanted a slow song,” Farro told podcast host Hrishikesh Hirway, when guitarist York realized he might have an idea already. “The guitar part is actually something that I’d had for years. I'd been trying to find a song for that since I was a teenager,” Taylor revealed, saying it had never quite found a home before.
From there, drummer Zac played over the sample and they immediately had the makings of a demo. “I normally work off, you know, just immediate inspiration, you know, like a reaction. So I went and tried a drum beat over it… we were kind of just riffing off each other,” he said nonchalantly.
The two came up with what they called “‘start’ ideas” to send to lead singer Hayley Williams for lyrics and melody. Saying she remembered Taylor playing similar chords before, Hayley expressed excitement to write a ballad, but was unsure if she could rise to the task. “I remember thinking, ‘Oh, the music's so beautiful. I wish I was the kind of singer that would write something just really soft and flowing to this.’ I always wish that about myself, but I love writing rhythmically.” Hayley went on to explain how she thinks of lyric writing in terms of timing and syllable counts, but that she decided to “try my hand at being one of those singers that does the pretty thing.”
“Hayley would actually sing and perform her parts for us in the room. And I remember Hayley at one point just pausing and—like, the hesitation of singing about love,” Zac recalled for the podcast. “But I just remember like, getting halfway through it and being like, ‘why are we not recording? You've recorded this, right? Like, why are we not, like... start tracking this! Because this is gold.” As they recorded the song, the band began to experiment with different tempos, a warped guitar audio, and even a coincidental addition of flutes and clarinets.
Yet, the song’s most difficult experimentation came from Hayley’s lyric writing. She began, “It was a revelatory experience for me, writing this song, because as some of those lyrics are coming out, I'm like, learning about myself.”
“I have spent quite some time fighting a very simple feeling… falling in love. And so, a lot of my life, I was realizing as I'm writing these lyrics, I've just spent so much time complicating things that really are simple,” she said, citing her own experiences in or witnessing painful relationships. “So, in my case, having something be simple and feel okay actually felt very scary and wrong.” It wasn’t until Hayley allowed herself to be vulnerable and open to love that the song came into fruition as we hear it now.
Check out the full Song Exploder episode now to hear more about “Liar” and Paramore’s songwriting process. The remix album Re: This is Why, which includes “Liar” performed by Romy, is out now.